The weekend drone assault in Kabul may have stirred feelings all around the world.
From London to Bali, from Nairobi to Madrid – in all corners, the al Qaeda terror group has murdered and maimed.
More than anyplace else although, New York is the place which nonetheless bears the deepest scars.
In the borough of Queens, with the Manhattan skyline past, because the world absorbed the killing of the Al Qaeda chief; I met a person known as Joseph Pfeifer.
On 11 September 2001 Mr Pfeifer was a New York City Fire Chief.
343 of his colleagues died within the twin towers that day, his brother, Kevin amongst them.
“It was a beautiful summer day like today,” he recalled. “Bright sunshine and I used to be standing on the street and I noticed the primary aircraft goal and crash into the World Trade Center.
“Within 102 minutes both World Trade Center towers collapsed to the ground. It went completely dark. Then we couldn’t see the hand in front of our face and wondered if we were still alive.”
I requested how he felt when he heard the information that Ayman Al Zawahiri had been killed.
“Hearing the news that one of the masterminds of 9/11 was taken out allowed me a sense of closure,” he stated. He spoke slowly with emotion and deep reflection.
“It allowed us victims of terrorism to have a voice; that we’re heard, that the terrorists won’t be tolerated and that their acts are acts against humanity.”
His recollections to me present how, like so many, he represented the very of humanity that day in 2001.
He was the primary hearth chief on the scene in downtown Manhattan. He coordinated these early minutes as his firefighters went in and up. Among those that climbed the towers, on his command, was his personal brother. So many individuals had been saved due to the firefighters bravery.
He has written a e-book, Ordinary Heroes, a memoir of his experiences, his reflections and his journey.
Of Ayman Al Zawahiri’s killing he stated: “His death makes a big difference because not only does it bring us back to that day and losing almost 3,000 people, but it allows us to look forward with a sense of hope that this evil person and his group of terrorists won’t continue those actions.
“And we get one other sense. We get a way of worldwide unity, of victims and other people of goodwill standing collectively and saying let’s shut this chapter and let’s begin a brand new considered one of kindness for each other.”
Source: information.sky.com”